Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Hear from our tech expert as he shares the technologies we should be watching over the next year. His website,www.larrysworld.comcovers technology products, reviews and policies; it links to his blogs for Forbes, San Jose Mercury News, Huffington Post & more; it provides tips on internet safety for kids and adults along with digital citizenship, online safety & civility.  Don’t miss his predictions for our audience about technology that may impact our future. Get a head start on your planning for 2017!

Hear how transformation and community engagement result from creating a platform for entrepreneurship, invention, and discovery, as well as relationship building for a lifetime through making and informal STEM learning. Using as an example the Fayetteville library, which is a pioneer with makerspace, this talk focuses on key initiatives that create true transformation and engagement within a community.

Libraries are more than a storage house for books; they are friendly places for discovery where creativity and learning are nurtured! The do it yourself (DIY) culture has permeated into libraries, giving patrons of all ages a chance to dream, think, and create interesting things. These collaborative learning environments, sometimes called makerspaces, create spaces where people can share innovative ideas and learn new skills and are a perfect fit in libraries primarily because they help enhance a library’s mission of encouraging lifelong learning. Mairn shares the process/resources used for the creation of St. Petersburg College’s Innovation Lab, programming ideas (e.g., Maker Boot Camp) to help foster creativity and learning, and how to help others splice the unknown with the known by sharing valuable experiences while giving patrons access to bleeding-edge technologies, people, organizations, and information so that they can take it to unknown territories. In line with a recent study by the Center for an Urban Future that argues libraries must extend their reach both into the digital sphere and into people’s homes, Queens is developing a Virtual Library System, a best-of-breed solution for accessing e-resources for all patrons. It allows seamless access to digital materials within Queens Library’s web and mobile interfaces and reaches beyond the confines of its physical locations, extending its presence into people’s homes by providing devices that let patrons interact more deeply with the library’s offerings, thereby shifting the balance of power from publishers to readers. Hear from Watson about the library’s progress toward playing a central role in modern life, a portal into American society for immigrants, and a starting point for small businesses while providing digital content in ways that work for all patrons.

Hear about three different innovative approaches to engaging communities. Our first speakers talk about libraries as places for incubation of new technology. In the Stacks (book recommendations from a Librarian Brain) has been in residence at the Mechanics’ Library, a most inspiring workspace in downtown San Francisco. Hear about its startup demo day, exhibition of women in tech and the products invented, and other programs. NYPL library staff talk about how coding is where it’s at and how they created a successful coding program to help their communities, how NYPL TechConnect built and launched a free coding training program from scratch and now has a waitlist of over 5K, how to hire and train staff, create partnerships, technology needs, best practices, and more. Opened in the CSU Library’s Learning Commons, the CMS provides students from all majors access to the tools they need to create multimedia projects. It includes a recording studio, advanced iMac computers, and media production equipment checkout and has become a significant part of the library’s innovation strategies. Hear about new services, staff and student assistants, roadblocks, funding strategies, and more.

Virtual reality is the hot topic in tech this year. Get the basics of what you need to know to make VR happen in your library from our first speaker. He discusses the Creation Station at Broward County Library which is the only public library in Florida that has had an Oculus Rift out on the public floor for customers to use for more than 8 months. Lessons learned and alternative plans are discussed.

Author of the “Library Systems Report” published by American Libraries and the International Library Technology Perceptions Survey, Breeding gives an update on the current state of the industry and what we need to watch for in the future to factor into our technology decisions today. He includes an overview of the current state of the library technology industry and highlights recent developments.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+... How’s a busy librarian supposed to stay on top of all of these social media accounts in addition to the million other things she/he has to do? SJSU presenters share a few tricks for streamlining some social media duties, such as scheduling posts in advance, automating cross-posting between platforms, and harnessing the power of the hashtag to get the community involved in creating content for your library’s social media accounts. Zelasko discusses two tools, Hootsuite Pro and Canva, which can help you create professional-looking graphic content and schedule a variety of posts without design training or breaking a sweat. With these tools, one can easily and efficiently create and manage content as well as collaborate with colleagues to market library services and events data.

With new gadgets appearing every day, how can library directors and administrators see through the hype and focus on what might actually have an impact on library service? Using recent examples, Koerber demonstrates an evaluation model to determine if a new technology has immediate use in a library setting, a future role to plan for, or a relevance to patrons that will drive other strategic needs (such as staff training).

The Goodnight Memorial Library just completed a whirlwind 2015 that saw migration to a new ILS and a major interior renovation to the facility. The migration to the new ILS wasn’t perfect and there were a few… issues. If you or your library are considering a new ILS vendor, please join Jim as he recounts his first major ILS migration. You might pick up some pointers on what they did, what they shouldn’t have done, what to ask vendors, and maybe hear a horror story or two from the audience!

How do you effectively communicate the business value of IT? Many IT related investments—especially those that deal with content and information—are difficult to quantify and express. Business leaders sometimes have difficulty understanding the ROI of information infrastructure investments such as software and semantic enrichment services. Kotula explains the concept of ROI and discusses other strategies for measuring the business value of these investments.

One of the most important reasons for organizations to gather and analyze statistics, indicators, or outcomes is to use these findings to make decisions. This session looks at tools and approaches public libraries are using to drive improvements and determine when to say yes and when to say no. Davis gives an update on what libraries are learning from Project Outcome, an online platform for all public libraries, large, medium and small, to measure their programs’ outcomes. For the first time, public libraries have free access to their own outcomes data as well as an aggregated set of performance measurement data and analysis tools. Jones describes how Brampton is investigating customer journeys by integrating its Project Outcomes data with customer borrowing and entry statistics, plus the indicators obtained through LiveGauge, a system that helps measure the impact of library spaces and merchandising. Murphy explains how Sno-Isle Libraries uses facts instead of emotions to determine which great ideas go forward. Using its example of whether or not to circulate wireless hotspots to the public, she clarifies how to identify the numbers that matter and evaluate perceived vs. actual impact.

As we all know libraries are abuzz with projects such as new or remodeled buildings, summer reading programs, converting from one classification system to another, to name a few. In addition, there are IT projects such as operating system upgrades, ILS system upgrades, network upgrades, adopting a third-party discovery layer, and more. All these projects share common denominators, and learning to apply basic project management skills to them will help you be successful and contribute to a better work environment. What are these common denominators and how will project management skills help you be successful? Come to this session and find out!

The Ask a Librarian service has provided literature searches tailored to the specific clinical and other research needs of CMA members (medical students, residents and practicing physicians) using the clinical library since 1998. In late 2015, a post-service survey was launched to gauge member satisfaction and loyalty and to identify potential areas for improvement. Net Promoter Score (NPS) was applied to the survey question on the likelihood of members to recommend this service to others. Members who rated the service a 9–10 score are classified as promoters (likely to keep using the service and referring to others), 7–8 are passives (satisfied, but unenthusiastic) and 0-6 are detractors (unhappy and potentially damaging to the service). Hear about the results with highlights so far: representation from across Canada and segments of the physician career cycle (from students to established in practice); key motivators for using the service were the need for quality of information and lack of time and skills to do their own searches; a high majority were satisfied with the service and would actively recommend the service to colleagues! This is one of the few studies where library customer satisfaction is assessed using NPS which seems to be a quick indicator of member loyalty and can potentially be benchmarked (over time and with other products and services throughout the organization).

We are all swimming in data about our profession, our libraries, our customers, our communities, and the world. Surveys and research reports tell confusing and occasionally competing stories. How do we read report briefs and dissect the data to find what’s actually useful, not just what is mentioned in the press release? Come away with better ways of approaching research and good questions to ask.

Libraries need to be constantly changing and innovating to stay relevant in their communities and to their patrons. While it was once thought that library leaders would be retiring, making room for a younger generation to drive this change, those retirements are not happening at the rate anticipated. Because of the changing landscape of library administration, millennial library leaders are stepping up, whether as “servant leaders,” middle managers, or library administrators, to drive change in every aspect of librarianship. Have a look at what is happening with the current crop of millennial library leaders and how libraries of the future will change under their vision and leadership.

As public libraries introduce makerspaces, discovery centers and innovation hubs, they often face opposition. Board members, staff, politicians and the public question why these services belong in public libraries. Libraries are often seen as places were ideas and knowledge are distributed, not as places of creation. Roberts traces how new, creation-based library services both return us to our roots and embrace the reasons public libraries were first formed. He emphasizes how public library services that stress personal discovery and creation mesh with the origins of public libraries and are central to their mission. The session is useful for those seeking to explain—in simple terms that honor our past—why library services that stress personal creativity are critical to our future.

What are the next steps for makerspaces? How can we better design spaces to help our users and empower them to acquire new skills? Hear about different makerspace models of engagement, critical partnerships, and how to develop a maker-type space in your own library. Makerspaces are communities as well as spaces and places. How can we use informal learning techniques, team-based learning, and constructivism to establish powerful makerspaces in our libraries and engage our communities?

Come find out how you can take your technology training program to another level at your library. This session helps you rejuvenate all aspects of your program, including hiring and training of staff, designing and building new computer labs, curriculum design, partnering with community organizations, having an online and social media presence, and marketing and building relationships with key people. Learn about how the NYPL TechConnect program took a 40K attendance program to more than 100K in just 3 years, by taking a blended learning approach, traditional strategies, and tapping into the tech trends to create innovative practices and services. Definitely a must-attend session!

Hear from a Knight Foundation grant recipient about Culture In Transit, a project to help small cultural heritage organizations and community members provide access to their materials by creating a mobile kit that digitizes print materials for archiving and online access. This outreach-centered digitization model aims to democratize and diversify NYC’s historical record. The project is led by the Metropolitan New York Library Council, in partnership with Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Library. This talk covers the community scanning and public archiving process; scanning at small cultural heritage collections; and a toolkit that will be available for others who might like to replicate these efforts.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a concept of wirelessly connecting sensors in mobile and remote devices, objects, and equipment to the internet. This enables the possibility of enhancing and creating value-added and personalized services. Recognizing the potential and impact of the IoT in library services, some libraries have started an initiatives to create an IoT-ready environment that will support applications and services as well as IoT research and development (R&D) and proof-of-concept activities. Hear what some innovative libraries are doing in implementing the platform, sensor grid, and applications, as well as the challenges, and work in progress.

This fast-paced session looks at how Sno-Isle Libraries evaluated email and chat reference, both the service and the software. Hear the results of product trials and the implementation and separation currently underway. Gather information about the Zopim Live Chat software program installed on Wu’s library website as a platform for our 24/7 reference service and how he enhanced the vendor software to provide more detailed data and statistics by using a wide range of Excel programing functions, converting raw data of online reference chat into meaningful statistics. Library management can now easily make data-driven decisions on chat staffing and scheduling. Final speakers discuss various strategies and tactics used to rebrand and implement a more impactful and personalized chat service designed to improve the user experience.

This session covers the uncertainties facing the internet, from governance to encryption, from citizen journalism to Pirate Bay, from virtual reality to the latest mobile devices. Rasmus takes the audience on a journey of the future that asks as many questions as it answers, suggesting in the end, not what we know for certain, but what we should certainly pay attention to.